A Look at NYC’s Select Bus Service, and Why Ashland BRT Will Be Better

The M15 in Manhattan has dedicated bus lanes in effect for part of the day. Photo: John Greenfield

Last Sunday, on a trip to New York, I rode the M15 Select Bus Service route on First Avenue in Manhattan. SBS incorporates components of bus rapid transit but it doesn’t rise to the level of real BRT, according to standards laid out by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Riding the M15 from 14th Street to 67th Street, I could tell that SBS is a significant improvement over typical bus service, but I also got a sense of its limitations. This revealed a lot about Chicago’s BRT plans, and the reasoning behind the proposed design for BRT on Ashland Avenue. Simply put, Ashland BRT will avoid the shortcomings of SBS.

BRT on Ashland will be faster than SBS and less prone to delays caused by people parking in the bus lane or idling tour buses. And it will be easier for people to pay fares, too. Here’s why.

With SBS, you arrive at the stop (they’re between five and ten blocks apart, or about a quarter to half a mile) and insert your Metrocard into the SBS fare machine on the sidewalk. The machine issues a receipt to show a fare inspector (if they come aboard). This process speeds up boarding: Passengers can board at any door, without being slowed by a queue of people dipping their transit cards. However, it also means passengers have to spend some time getting a receipt before a bus arrives.

With all-door boarding, buses spend much less time standing still at stops. Photo: John Greenfield.

Ashland BRT will also have pre-paid boarding but since there will be standalone, bounded stations, it will be possible to use turnstiles, like BRT systems in Mexico and South America. This would eliminate the extra step of collecting a receipt and spare bus riders the occasional frustration of watching a bus pull up and drive away while they press buttons on the receipt machine.

The M15 route in NYC has dedicated bus lanes (some of which are only in effect during peak periods), but since they’re next to the parking lane, bus drivers have to navigate around people trying to parallel park or turn right. In some locations, like at the United Nations building, tour buses were standing near the bus stop. Still, despite the enormous traffic volumes in NYC — I’ve never seen anything like it in Chicago — buses are moving faster. And the bus lanes haven’t affected average vehicle speeds, which have also increased, according to taxi GPS data.

The center-running bus lanes proposed for Ashland BRT will not have the shortcomings of the SBS bus lanes. They will be in effect at all times. And most importantly, they will not conflict with drivers trying to access the curb. That will mean fewer stops and starts, less weaving through traffic, faster service, and greater reliability.

The center-running lanes are a big reason why Ashland BRT will be the best in the nation – perhaps the first that should achieve ITDP’s gold standard. And the reason that “gold standard” BRT matters is that people will start to think taking the bus is a good idea.

Today, riding the bus is perceived as second-class transportation because our streets are designed to treat bus service that way. We have streets that allow each car commuter to infringe on the ability of transit riders to reliably get to work on time. Bus bunching doesn’t occur because the CTA is incompetent — it happens because we let too many cars get in the way. Ashland BRT will create a more equitable street and level the playing field between transit and driving.

I think he means, whats to stop someone from jaywalking across the street directly onto the platform, completely bypassing the turnstyle entrance? The renderings appear as if the platforms are just open to the street.

This is an issue in cities that have center-running light rail trains, like Salt Lake City. What they’ve done is install metal event barricades in the pedestrian-dense locations downtown and police enforcement at other locations.

But will there be doors on the actual waiting platform? Otherwise I think what the OP is asking is what is stopping people from running across the street and jumping onto the waiting platform without paying? If there aren’t any doors that open when a bus arrives, then people could just do this.

Or jaywalk mid-block and step up. Seriously, they look about calf-high.

madopal

Heck, looks like you don’t even have to jaywalk. Use crosswalk, walk down bus lane past station building, climb on platform. Done.

Maybeusearealexpertasasourcene

I personally would prefer the receipt (or something similar) model coupled with random enforcement. This was the system in Munich and it created a stronger sense of social compact as well as a greater sense of security as their police enforcement was plain clothes, creating the scenario in which their might always be a police officer on the bus.

As far as “the occasional frustration of watching a bus pull up and drive away while they press buttons on the receipt machine” well the turnstile alternative doesn’t eliminate that. It would just be “”the occasional frustration of watching a bus pull up and drive away while they try to swipe and pass through the turnstile” or “the occasional frustration of watching a bus pull up and drive away while they wait for the light to change to cross the street to the platform”. But with BRT it won’t be an issue because you’ll know another bus is coming in five minutes.

Alex_H

I haven’t seen anything to make me think that Ashland BRT will run every 5 minutes. I thought John even admitted in the comments section on another post that BRT may not even run 24/7. John, do you have any information on this?

Joseph Musco

Great reporting Steve.

One thing in SBS’s favor is NYC has built 6 corridors to date and the corridors cost anywhere from 1/3 to 1/5 of the cost of Ashland BRT per mile. It makes sense that Ashland BRT outperforms SBS just as it makes sense that Joakim Noah is a better basketball player than Taj Gibson. Noah costs 150% more.

Maybeusearealexpertasasourcene

Either way. My point is still that there will always be instances that someone “just misses” the bus and feels like “if only I hadn’t had to _________”. You can’t eliminate that from the equation, and the increased reliability and regularity of BRT will further mitigate “missing my bus” down to being a minor nuisance from a whole day ruining event.

what_eva

Exactly. The L is grade separated in all but a few cases, either down in a highway median or elevated. In the few cases it isn’t grade separated (eg Kedzie Brown), the third rail is still a deterrent and the rail-to-platform height difference is greater.

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